This invention relates to the field of racks for supporting bows generally, and in particular, to a caddy for supporting a bow above the wheel well of a pickup truck.
Archery and bow hunting are known recreational sports, both of which employing bows, for example compound bows as are well known in the prior art, as the primary equipment employed by the sportsman. It is quite often the case that, for a variety of reasons including travel over rugged terrain, that sportsmen use pickup trucks, ATV""s or the like as transportation to and from the sports venue whether it be indoor or outdoor.
Because equipment is intended to be carried, for example, in the box of the pickup truck, it is quite often the case that an often expensive bow will, when placed into the box of the pickup truck, come to harm, for example by collisions with other material being transported as the material slides and bounces around in the pickup truck box.
It is also known in the prior art to provide portable storage cases for storing and transporting of bows and arrows. Such cases may be either padded fabric cases or hard-shelled plastic cases. In either event, applicant is unaware of devices which will prevent the cases from sliding or otherwise moving around, for example in the back of a pickup truck box during transport, consequently inviting damage not only to the case, but also potentially to the bow stored within the case.
Consequently it is an object of the present invention to provide a rack or caddy (hereinafter referred to collectively as a caddy) for securely mounting a bow in, for example, the box of a pickup truck so as to provide a releasably securable clamping of the bow suspended for transport, in the case of a pickup truck above the floor of the box or in the case of an ATV secured to the ATV so as to inhibit damage to the bow while still providing for ease of access to the bow by the sportsman.
Applicant is aware of U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,610 which issued Aug. 11, 1998 to Sanchez for a quick release bow rack. Sanchez discloses
xe2x80x9cA quick release bow rack for securing an archery bow on or within a vehicle. The bow rack includes an elongated supporting member which supports two clamps in a spaced relationship. The clamps hold the limbs of archery bow, and are spring biased toward the open position. Each clamp is held in the closed position by a latch which is pivotally attached to one of the jaws of the clamp and is capable of engaging the other jaw of the clamp. Each latch is connected to a cable which disengages the respective latch from one of the jaws of the respective clamp, when the cable is pulled. The cables connected to the latches are connected to a single pivoting lever such that pulling on the lever causes both cables to be pulled, thus allowing both clamps to spring open and allowing a bow held in the rack to be quickly removed.xe2x80x9d.
Among other deficiencies of the Sanchez teaching, Sanchez provides an elongate rigid supporting member upon which the clamps are slidably mounted. Thus, when the clamps are slid towards one another to accommodate a particular size of bow, the ends of the supporting member are left to protrude outwardly of the clamps thereby causing inconvenience during use and storage.
In summary, the bow caddy of the present invention includes a base, a cantilevered member mounted at a first end to the base and extending cantilevered from the base to an opposite second end, opposite to the first end, and a cross-member mounted to the second end of the cantilevered member, the cross-member having opposite first and second ends. The cantilevered member may be releasably pivotally mounted to the base so as to be selectively angularly positionable relative to the base. A rigid first arm is pivotally and slidably mounted to the first end of the cross member. A rigid second arm is pivotally and slidably mounted to the second end of the cross-member. The first and second arms are parallel to the cross-member and mounted for sliding and pivoting in a plane parallel to a plane containing the cross-member.
Locking means releasably lock the first and second arms in desired angular and longitudinal displacement relative to the cross-member. Frictional clamps are rigidly mounted at distal ends of the first and second arms. The clamps frictionally engage oppositely disposed limbs of a bow to be mounted in the caddy. The bow is mounted by adjustment of relative positioning between the clamps and the first and second arms so as to accommodate the limbs of the bow in the clamps without substantial distortion of the bow.
In one embodiment the base may be a planar mounting plate and the cantilevered member may extend orthogonally to the plate. The cantilevered member may be mounted to the cross-member so as to generally bisect the cross member along its length. The cross-member may extend a length less than a length of the bow. The arms may be generally the same length and have a cumulative length less than or equal to the length of the cross-member. The arms may be pivotally mounted to the cross-member so as to pivot about axes of rotation which are generally perpendicular to the base.
The locking means may include a tightenable fastener mounted along the axes of rotation of the arms so as to frictionally clamp the arms to the cross-member. The locking means may alternatively, or may further include resiliently biased locking pins mounted to the arms for releasably engaging locking apertures in the cross member. The locking apertures may be a radially spaced-apart array of apertures, radially spaced-apart about the axes of rotation.
The cross members have at least one slot in each end of the cross member. The fastener may be a rigid member journalled through each of the slots. The slots may be collinear, each slot having opposite first and second ends. The apertures in the cross-member may include first and second radially spaced-apart arrays of apertures. The first array may correspond to a locking pin arc of rotation when the fastener is positioned in the first end of the slot. The second array may coincide with the position of the locking pin when the fastener is in the second end of the slot.
The cantilevered member may be of a length so as to cantilever the cross-member over a wheel well of a pickup truck box when the base is mounted to a side panel of the box corresponding to the wheel well, although this is not intended to be limiting.
The clamps may be generally U-shaped members sandwiching therebetween resilient padding. The resilient padding defines a cavity therebetween for receiving into the cavity the limbs of the bow for resiliently releasably engaging the limbs between the pads. The clamps may each have opposed facing apertures in the distal ends of the clamps for receiving locking members therethrough so as to releasably lock the limbs of the bow in the clamp.